Bob Johnston, who produced some of the most iconic albums of the 1960s, has died. He was 83.
Johnston died Friday at a Nashville hospice, reports Rolling Stone.
“For several days before, swinging, swaying, and waving around his hands, telling stories out loud, entertaining and consuming all those that saw and heard him,” one friend told The Austin Chronicle. “Once he was confined to [a] bed and connected to machines, hospice only gave him a few days to live.”
Johnston, who was born in Hillsboro, Texas, wrote songs before he ended up getting hired by Columbia Records as a staff producer. That job gave him a chance to work with Bob Dylan. The two started working together after Dylan split from producer Tom Wilson following his recording of “Like A Rolling Stone.” Johnston went on to produce the other eight tracks on Highway 61 Revisited.
Dylan and Johnston worked together for the rest of the 1960s and early 1970s, creating Blonde On Blonde, John Wesley Harding, Nashville Skyline, Self Portrait and New Morning.
Johnston also worked with Johnny Cash, recording his famous jailhouse live albums, At Folsom Prison and At San Quentin. He also produced Simon & Garfunkel’s Sounds of Silence and Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme and Songs From A Room and Songs of Love and Hate for Leonard Cohen. He also worked with Willie Nelson, The Byrds, Jimmy Cliff and Pete Seeger.